Smile or Die: How Positive Thinking Fooled America and the World by Barbara Ehrenreich

Back in 2003, a US government official called Armando Falcon warned the White House that companies such as Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were backing far too many dodgy mortgages, risking financial collapse and "contagious illiquidity in the market". Did the White House look at tightening up regulations? Nope. They tried to sack Falcon. He was just being "negative".

Barbara Ehrenreich's study of American optimism at its most delusional is fascinating, often very funny, and wholly convincing. She is a distinguished journalist with a sharp eye for corporate America, but also has a deep affection for her great but increasingly troubled nation. Once America was John Wayne: stoical, taciturn and tough as hell. Now it's a babbling neurotic on the couch, popping pills and whining about its self-esteem. What went wrong?

Ehrenreich's antidote is the time-honoured wisdom of "realism, to the point of defensive pessimism". Studies show that a certain